2013-10-21 - Attack of the Giant Lobsters
Starfire is currently flying back over towards Titans Island from a patrol then, skimming along the water like a stone as she comes in at low subsonic speeds, heading towards the main open area. It's not hard to guess what M'gann is doing; it's downtime, and ... SURPRISE! She is watching television. Today's show appears to be Scooby Doo. She is studying it very intently, floating just a little bit above the couch, legs crossed. As Starfire comes back flying under that beaming sun, the day today completely clear, she can spot something in the horizon, a black spot flying around in zig-zag and getting closer. At first it is hard to make out, but when a loud, sudden neigh, it becoems obvious it's a flying horse, and both it and it's rider, the blonde asgardian known as Valkyrie, seem desperate, trying to outrun the wind, or so it seems. "I didn't do it!!!", says the tall blonde, before she flies past Starfire, trying to reach the Tower aswell, and it is then that the alien can see a very, very big shade underwater. To say it is the size of a soccer stadium would be accurate, the waves it creates rocking boats on the coast. Even within the tower, where M'Gann is, she can fell the rumbling on the ground, powerful footsteps coming from down bellow. Valkyrie lands, sending Aragorn away, all wet, as she whispers "OhmigodsIddidntdothis!", and taking another deep breathe, she looks back, holding Dragonfang in her hands "I don't know where it came from! I was out trying to save an oil rig from sinking and... and it appeared out of nowhere!". Starfire lets out what can best be described as a very loud squeak as she accelerates, hitting her communicator in an alert, "All available Titans, respond!" Skimming along towards the area to flank wtih any other responding members. "We have an emergency situation." A nd wehre is Aqualad when you -need- him? Heading in a tight turn, Starfire zooms in, a burst of solar energy traveling along behind her as she goes to full speed! "That does not look very nice," says M'gann, to herself. She turns off Scooby Doo, right before the good part; which is probably a good thing so she doesn't think all villians need their faces ripped off, and she moves out of one of theaccessible windows that so many of the Titans use to fly out of, hovering in the air. She scans minds, and the air until she finds her friends. And, asks into the communicator, "What is it?" She tries to reach out, mentally, to touch the thing, and see if she can make any determination. The shade in the water grows and suddenly the body of water seems to expand upwards, covering the mass rising from bellow until it does no more, revealing the powerful-looking carapass of what can only be described as a gigantic lobster, it's scream, as surreal as it seems, very Godzilla-esque. The thing slowly approaches the Titans Tower, it's march easily visible from San Francisco. When it's claws snap the loud sound alone sends vibrations through the air, indicating a very gruesome end to whoever ends up trapped by them. When fully out of the water the gigantic sea creature lets sea water rain down on the tower, a huge shade over the heroines bellow. The thing's mind is too primitive and basic for M'Gann to understand, but she will understand a basic drive to obey. "O-Okay... we need Kara. We totally need Kara!", says Valkyrie on the top of the building, apprehensive, pursing her lips and frowning. Why, oh why are her first thoughts upon seeing an enormous lobster that she would really like some giant appliers of butter and a salt shaker? Starfire goes to try and pepper towards the eyestalks of the thing over with a series of starbolts, trying to strafe over and put the creature on the defensive then so that her other teammates can respond, firing along with the energy bolts from her fingers in rapid bursts, calling out along the commlink “Do not let it get near the city!” Starfire going in a loop de loop around the bug, waiting for the other Titans to back her up! "I cannot reason with it," M'gann alerts her teammates, even as she flies towards it at high speed. As she nears the creature, she goes intangible, allowing it's pinchers to pass through her without any damage or fear to her. "We must lead it back into the ocean," she tries to implore Valkyrie, and Starfire. "Why did it follow you, Valkyrie?" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!", Valkyrie screams when the pincer snaps around M'Gann, doing nothing to the girl. She is getting used to everybody's powers. "B-Because I tried to help that ship! It's evil! Look at i-", screams Barbara, trying to get her voice heard by the alien girl as the pincer comes crashing down onto the asgardian, who dodges the only way she knows it will work, jumping off the building. As the creature redirects it's attack midway, it destroys the edge of the last floor, trying to hit the blonde girl, who is free-falling, Aragorn still at a distance! As for Starfire, she manages to hurt and make the creature bleed, taking a few 'steps' back, blind for a moment, even more irate as it screams again. The water around it begins to bubble and many, -many- shades appear around it, those human sized. Starfire lets out a yelp then over as she sees Valkyrie falling, and she calls out, "M'Gann, keep the leviathan busy!" Not caring what those bubbling sea-serpent men likely rising out of the water are! For now she has to save her friend! She bolts around in a long loop, going to try and catch the falling Valkyrie then, trying to use her yand to catch the outstretched wrist over fo the tumbling Brunhilde before Aragorn arrives! M'gann, Valkyrie is about to find, isn't really - a fighter. Not if she can help it, at any rate. "Okay, Starfire." She nods her head, and then looks towards the big lobster thing, uncertain of what it is. But, she projects at it, reaching into it's mind the thought of food; lots of food, back, back in the ocean. Tasty food. She encourages, << You are hungry. There is food, but not here. It is in the depths. Return to the depths, where your feeding grounds are. >> M'Gann forces her mind into the creature's, trying to understand it's thought paterns so she can instil her own into the beast's, but strangely enough she hits quite a few blank areas, as if some parts of it's psyche were not only out of reach, they were overriden by something else. When the martian's mind touches those spots, there is a sudden glimmer of gold in her eyes. From the waters thousands upon thousands of smaller versions of the creature, but blacker, leave the seas, eager to dismember Barbara, apparently, but when Starfire catches the Valkyrie any carnage is averted, at least then, asthe creatures decide, instead, to climb the Titan Tower, as the larger beast goes after Valkyrie, the young group's building in it's path. Starfire may have gotten one of Valkyrie's wrists, the one holding the fabled Dragonfang, but it doesn't keep Barbara from struggling, and soon the alien princess realizes why: she is fighting one of the smaller lobsters, that seems to have latched onto something in Valkyrie's throat. "Let it go, you disgusting little freak! This is NOT yours! Argh! Let it go! LEAVE IT! HELP! DAMN IT!", and squeezing the creature's head, Valkyrie throws it away, panting. "I guess the crab economy is going down too...", holding the golden necklance around her neck tightly. "Kori, can you take me to Aragorn?" Starfire lets out a yelp, "We cannot hold off so many!" It's an invasion from the depths! Looping around over with Valkyrie in her hands then, as Brunhilde is able to throw away the one that had been attacking her, Starfire goes over toloop throught he air, carrying Valkyrie over towards Aragorn. Her eyes are flashing, irises wide. This is far more than they can handle! Going and looping around once she has brought Valkyrie over to Aragorn, she goes to fire continuous streams of energy from her wrists, blasting over into the ocean and the seemingly endless hordes of approachign monsters, quickly debating what they can do. Call the Justice League? Send out an emergency signal to call heroes on the West Coast? If one cannot -reason- with a beast, M'gann comes to the realization this thing isn't something that is necessarily real. Or, rationale. It's more than something primal. And there's a reason it's attacking, even if she can't quite deduce it, or find it, probing the leviathan's mind. So, instead, her eyes flare a bright yellow again, as she sends a massive psonic attack into it's mind to stun it. Row after row of lobster creatures is incinerated by Starfire's power, more coming to replace them. All of them hunting always the same target: Barbara. Seems she -has- to be guilt of something, even if unwittingly, to be the target of such a savage hunt. Just as the creature is about to trample over the Titan Tower, it suddenly stops, shaking, the psionic attack very successful in stopping the creature dead in it's tracks. Although M'Gann knows it's just stunned, the parts of it's brain she could access suddenly froze, it is more than enough time for Barbara, now mounted in Aragorn, to charge the creature, screaming with all her might, jumping from her steed to sink half of Dragonfang into the creature's head,showering herself in blue blood. "HAH!", she says, grinning, completely covered by the stuff now, looking down at the smaller crabs expecting them to receed. Thing is that they don't, and as the huge crustacean falls over the Tower, making a giant ladder to the top of it, the creatures start crawling up. "Well, shit!", Valkyrie screams as she whistles at Aragorn for a rescue yet again. M'Gann knows the creature's mind is not completely gone, and even with a large hole in it's head, the pincers still move. The creature is still stunned, but not for long. Starfire can grasp enough of the situation tactically even without a full picture now that she can guess that the creature seems to be after Valkyrie. She quickly signals and calls into the communicator, "Titans! Let us take the battle out to sea!" Hoping as she fires another bevvy fo her Starbotls over the water that she can zoom along and head out to sea, and that the other two will hopefully get the idea and join her. And that i fshe's really lucky the creature and the lobstermen that are following the group will also go to chase after them, and let them take the battle away from a populated area. Calling to the communicator, "Valkyrie, report! What were you doing before this thing assaulted the towers!" << Valkyrie. >> Yep. Valkyrie. That's M'gann. IN YOUR BRAIN. << Did you take anything from the ship? Did the ship take anything from the water? This creature is hunting you. May I look into your mind? >> M'gann stays intangible, so she is not injured, feeling inable to help, or perhaps not wanting to stand out so much as to scare, or make her new friends terrified of her. << It will help determine what this creature wants. >> "You are all talking too much too fast at the same time, ohmigod!", Barbara says, confused, looking to one side and then the other, her eyes darting around as she follows both girls. That's a trick she learned a long time ago: when in dobut, follow other people. It turns out Valkyrie's mind is an open book, even if a book written by an illiterate person. It's a mess of thoughts, feelings, all scrambled, but as M'Gann peers deeper into the girl's mind images show up. At first it's Valkyrie helping to keep an oil tanker afloat, a -huge- gash on it matching the size of the creature's pincer, the crew thanking her and a book-worm-looking individual handing her out a golden necklace, full of strange, suspicious runes in itwhile looking at her cleavage. Barbara seems to be all happy about it, kissing the man on the forehead and hugging him tight. She puts the thing on, and argues with Aragorn when the pegasus refuses to let her mount him. From then on it's a series of images picturing Kara with the necklace she was given, Valkyrie and ice cream, an elephant riding a mini bicycle down the roads of San Francisco and a laundry list. "I-I don't know! I mean, ohmigod! I was just trying to help some people! ODIN! What was I supposed to do!?", she says, desperate, as the creatures turn to follow them, leaving the tower alone, the giant crab-creature slowly regaining consciousness, rising up. "Holy crap! It isn't dead! It isn't dead!", she screams, readying Dragonfang again. << Give me the necklace. >> M'gann flies straight towards Valkyrie, understanding suddenly dawning in a flash. People may presume she's not all there, that she's a bit flighty; when in actuality it's more nativity simply due to the Earth's Culture. Her mind is as every bit as sharp as Dragonfang. And, in that mental command, while there's no telepathic force behind it, it carries the same weight as if it were Barbara's mother, demanding her to obey. M'gann solidifies, and holds out her hand. "Hurry. Before everything is destroyed." Starfire is unaware over of the telepathic conversation giong on between the two ther Titans as they converse far off, just focused on firing Starbolts as fast as she can queue them up, energy boiling and bubbling off her body as she tries to keep the lobster and the army of lobstermen charging after her, calling out, "X'Hal, please give us the inspiration to save us!" "OH MY GOD, stop telling me what to do!", Barbara suddenly screams, her voice getting very high-pitched as she takes the necklace off and throws it at M'Gann "I hate it here!", and when she is done, Barbara frowns some, breathing hard. Why did she suddenly lose it on Miss Martian!? "S-Sorry!", she says, before watching the giant lobster-thing slowly rise and face M'Gann, instead of her. "Oh no, you don't!", mutters Valkyrie as she sees the creature turning to her young, green-skinned friend, flying down with Aragorn in the direction of the beast as all the creatures, both big and small, follow the levitating martian. Starfire, on the other hand, has the water around them boiling already, her beams heating the bay so much that it -really- makes Barbara think of butter as she charges the creature, her lizard brain commanding the blodne asgardian to lick her lips, despite being covered in blue blood, even when she is ready to chop the creature's head right off! M'gann catches the necklace. And, she calls to the two, too much in the mode of using her telepathy now to consider her communicator, << Follow me, and keep them off me. >> She does not put the necklace on, simply holds onto it's headpiece, and begins to fly forwards as fast as she can, towards the ocean deep, where Valkyrie came from. And the creature followed her from. Her concern? She has to be solid, to hold onto the thing. And she's not sure if such a creature as this could damage her truly or not. As Valkyrie charges over towards them, Starfire goes to try and flank Valkyrie and protect her, not sure what she and Miss Martian are doing, but trusting the two even without being aware of the full details of thier plans, and moving to support them by firing off as many Starbolts as she cna, evne as her solar charge started to wane, and the energy of the bolts she was putting out began to fade as they peppered over the area. The creatures do not care if they swim through the scalding water, but they go after M'Gann and that amulet like it's their only place in life. As more and more of the creatures burn on the way after the martian the biggest onesinks into the water, and it's size apparently doesn't factor into it's speed, as it can easily outpace Aragorn, much to Barbara's chagrin, her blue eyes wide in surprise. One of the pincers get out of the water, missing M'Gann by a few feet, the water raining down on her as it tries again, now a few feet too late, elicting a frown from the asgardian, who readies Dragonfang and goes for a slaash,hitting the creature's pincer directly, cutting it only superficially before she realizes she might be way in over her head. "FRY THIS THING, KORI! FRY IT NOW!", the attackes getting closer and closer to M'Gann. As the creature begins to rise over the waves, Valkyrie nods at Starfire, jumping down from Aragorn to land on the crustacean's head, hitting it with her sword once again, attempting a 'manual psychic stun', also known as a concussion, making the creature dizzy enough so it won't hit it's target. This, however, puts Valkyrie on the aims of the smaller versions of the beast that roam it's body, but she tries to fight them off, asking Starfire for help. M'Gann, on the other hand, can feel that more and more -she- has to get out of the way as the creature's accuracy increases more as the time passes, the amulet in the hands glowing like a beacon, a tell tale of why the hulking beast is getting so much better at finding M'Gann. It seems like just a matter of time for it to hit the girl cleanly. As one of those claws becomes too close, M'gann actually tosses the amulet forwards, she phases as the claw passes through her, then she catches the amulet again, and zips upwards, whirling the amulet around and around once they're nearwhere the oil tanker was, as near as M'gann can tell. And then, she lets the amulet go, throwing it as far and out into the deep as she can - giving it a small telekenetic boost subtley to give it a few extra hundred yards or so to makesure the beast does not harm anyone. She's exhausted. Not quite pushing herself to her maximum limits, but she's nearly exhausted her energy reserves, and her glow is dimming. From how she fights, though, one might not know it as Starfire continue sto pepper the area with her Starbolts, energy impacting along the waves, making a bubble of boiling water for hundreds of yards as Starfire tries to make a heated barrier between the shoreline and the lobsters pursuing the necklace as it flies off, to make surethey do not turn back. Valkyrie has to leap up to Aragorn as the creature starts to submerge, but this time her steed will accept her, since she is not carrying a cursed treasure. As the monstrous lobster vanishes, so do it's minions, never to be seen again. For now. Once on the pegasus, the asgardian wipes her brow, grinning widely as the monster seems to vanish, breathing heavily and nodding. "Uhul!", she screams, laughing maniacally, Aragorn going up to match both other girls in height. "You two are okay?", she asks, still smiling breathlessly, the steed neighing impatiently under her, tired of this sea, of it's rider and her antics. M'gann nods, turning after watching the dark leviathan submerge, breathing a sigh of releif. "I am well. Did you not learn that on Earth, it is not wise to take things from strangers as it will often end in you either being captured andin a van, or taking a cursed item that kills everyone around you?" She blinks at Valkyrie, as if this were common knowlege. Well. It is. If you spend your days watching TV. She then looks back to Starfire, "Are you well, Koriand'r? You did well to keep them off of us. But they were just defending what was theirs." Starfire is slinking, barely able to hold herself steady then, barely hovering and her glow dimmed, "I will be.. Fine. I have expended too much energy. I will just have to recharge for awhile." Half smiling, an then nodding at M'Gann and at Valkyrie, "You both did well.. As Titans." "I... No. I didn't. Sorry...", and Barbara hangs her head slightly, pursing her lips. "I thought it was a present, a gift for saving them, you know? Killing everyone around me was never my intention...", she mutters, before sparing a small smile to Starfire. "Thanks, Kori... look, you... you look kinda worn out... wanna a ride?", and maneuvering Aragorn, she gets close to Kori, offering her a hand and a wide smile"